BBC told detention centre not a zoo

IMMIGRATION officials have declared detention centres are "not zoos" after a BBC TV crew demanded unfettered access to vulnerable asylum seekers and then complained when access was denied.

A crew from the British broadcaster claimed the Immigration Department was hindering its editorial independence by demanding it not name detainees or show their identities if they were allowed to visit centres in Australia.

The strict rules are designed, in part, to prevent "sur place" claims - where a detainee, if found not to be a refugee, can still be allowed to stay on the grounds the regime they fled could identify them from media reports.

Immigration spokesman Sandi Logan said the BBC had rejected the deed of agreement, claiming it stifled their "editorial independence".

"They (the BBC) demanded unfettered access," he said.

"A detention centre is not a zoo and we do not allow anyone in to have a stickybeak.

"These are vulnerable people and we have a duty of care to look after them."

Mr Logan said the department would send a complaint to the BBC Trust's chairman Lord Chris Patten, who is currently fighting to save his job after a BBC story wrongly led to a conservative peer being named as a child abuser.

The row comes after a male asylum seeker was found dead on an asylum boat off Christmas Island on Thursday.

Australian Federal Police are investigating but it is understood he died of natural causes.